Doug Haywood has written songs, made hit records, and toured and performed with several household names in country rock beginning in the 1970s. He began his professional career in Phoenix, AZ, when he and his two buddies, pedal steel player Ed Black and drummer Mickey McGee joined Goose Creek Symphony. The band opened up a show for Linda Ronstadt at the Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles. As a result, Ronstadt convinced Haywood's two friends to come over and play in her band, which they did for a couple of years. Haywood would join them some months later after devoting some time performing in Bobbie Gentry's band as her single, "Ode to Billy Joe," was climbing the charts. These were among the first boosts to Haywood's career, but they would not be his last. Being the new kid in town had its disadvantages, most of which were financial, but Haywood found ways to overcome these obstacles. He wanted to join the musician's union but didn't have enough money for the initiation fee, so he worked out an arrangement with the union whereby he would picket a night club, Gazarri's for about 15 dollars a night until the fee was paid off. The union also sent him out on a couple of jobs, one of which was a Mod Squad shoot where he played the part of a folksinger in a coffeehouse. His song wound up playing in the background of the episode which got him into ASCAP, and the royalties, though shrinking somewhat, still continue to roll in. What seemed like a pattern of trading up eventually led to a long and fruitful working relationship with Jackson Browne in 1973. Over the next 20 years Haywood would spend thousands of hours in the studio supplying bass, organ, and vocal parts on more than a dozen of Browne's albums. And, as is generally the case, following each release there would be a rigorous tour schedule to promote each record, adding up to hundreds of thousands of road and air miles and hundreds of concert performances logged by the talented music veteran. As a result of his singing on Browne's albums other artists began taking notice of Haywood's studio quality vocal talent and he became very busy with requests to appear on their albums, sometimes forced to command triple AFTRA scale. Working with and for Jackson Browne provided Haywood with a stable and financially rewarding career in the big leagues of the music business, and it also provided him with an education in the industry. Having proved to himself that he had the knowledge and talent to go off on his own, Haywood opened up a recording studio in Colorado for the dual purpose of sustaining an income, and to serve as a vehicle for his own productions. This venture, by his own account, caused somewhat of a struggle within himself, however. After a hard day's work making his clients sound good, he found that it wasn't easy to muster up the energy to create his own music. He said, "I'd probably write more songs if I was a brick layer." And went on to say, "But I continue to chase the dream, not the money. Wouldn't it be great to have both?" ~ Tom Kealey